By Atul Malhotra, Chief Operating Officer, Malhotra Group PLC
For this month’s comment piece, NE1 has teamed up with the Malhotra Group to get an insight into why major events are so important for the hotel and leisure sector in the city.
It is no wonder that the city has been voted the best for a night out and regularly features in international guides as one of Europe’s best city break locations. We have it all – big events, a fantastic cultural and retail offer, and a city that is transforming before our very eyes.
Over the last month, the city has shown what it is made of and has come alive with big events hosted at St. James’ Park. From sporting occasions like Magic Weekend hosted at the start of June, with a record breaking attendance of over 63,000, to stadium music concerts like Sam Fender’s iconic weekend take-over, these events fill the city’s hotels, restaurants and shops and bring a vibrancy to the city that lasts longer than the events themselves. The build-up to both events lasted for weeks with shops, restaurants and hospitality venues providing offers and promotional activities to capitalise on the interest and excitement.
Newcastle is the only Premier League club to have retained its stadium in the heart of the city. Steeped in history, the famous ground is the beating heart of the city, the ‘castle on the hill’ overlooking the city centre.
Visitors and supporters are within a short walking distance of all Newcastle’s amenities and can, and do, take advantage of the city’s wider offer before and after each event. Match days are something to behold. Being in the city is electric. Seeing the throng of thousands of ‘Toon’ supporters moving through the city to the stadium is awe-inspiring. As well as the spectacle and the atmosphere it creates, it also delivers an economic boost to business with an average Premier League home match generating a £2m spend.
What is exciting is seeing the stadium used outside of match days and in the off-season for other major events. The potential is enormous and we must seize the opportunity. Having this premier event venue in the heart of the city is wasted if we don’t start using it more, we need to capitalise on what is a relatively untapped asset. We have demonstrated our capabilities and now we need to ramp up and work to attract other events and to consider what else we can host here.
Hopefully the UK and Ireland’s bid will secure the Euro 2028 Football Championships which will bring a number of games and tens of thousands of supporters to the city. And, thanks to Newcastle United’s recent successes and our return to UEFA’s Champions League, St. James’ will host at least three European home matches next season. This is great news for the city and puts us back on the global map, bringing visitors from across Europe and beyond.
Events like these showcase the city to a national and international audience and boost visitor numbers – we just need more of them.
The Sam Fender concerts in June delivered an economic boost of £15m, 43% of which was spent outside of the stadium. They also delivered a major boost to our business here at the Malhotra Group, raising the average room rate for the whole week by 34%, compared to the previous 9 weeks of the financial year.
Magic Weekend also ramped up trade, although the increase was slightly smaller this year. This was due in part to the rail strikes which happened over the Magic Weekend and prevented many people travelling to the city. We still saw an increase of 25% on the average room rates.
These events deliver for the city and wider region, and we urge NE1 and other civic leaders to continue their commitment to attracting and securing big events for Newcastle and the region. We must pursue these opportunities doggedly and continue to attract the best events to our city.
One thing we must be aware of is the need to coordinate scheduling. Having Pink perform at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland on the same weekend as Sam Fender diluted the impact and the potential for visitors. This has a knock on effect on accommodation demand in the city.
In future, better communication with Sunderland and other outlying cities is essential to ensure we can all maximise visitor attendance from North East events.
Thankfully, plans for the new exhibition and conference centre on the Gateshead Quayside will also have a major impact on visitor numbers and event staging in the North East. It will play a significant part in growing the market for events and conferences, which is essential for the city as the hotel sector enters a period of rapid expansion.
Barely a week goes by without a new hotel being announced in the city. Newcastle is already well served for quality hotel accommodation across all price and style ranges with a vibrant and diverse offer. There are currently 34 hotels in the city centre, with plans for another eight over the coming years with big branded hotel chains announcing their arrival into the city together with independent boutiques.
We also have our own plans approved for two new hotels, one 110-bed, five star hotel that will extend from the Cloth Market to Grey Street with bars, restaurants, retail and rooftops, with another on Pilgrim Street that will be transformed into 21 luxury apartments, as part of a high-end, luxury apart-hotel, again with a bar, restaurant and rooftop offer included. In addition, we will also be restoring the city’s historic original music hall Balmbras to its former glory.
This is great news for Newcastle especially with the introduction of brands like Dakota to the Quayside, the Moxy, and the new Gotham Hotel which will all provide something new to the city and extend the current offer.
But the reality is to sustain the sector with this huge influx of new hotel bedrooms, we must increase the size of the market. We need to generate more events and create more reasons to visit. We need to be bold and ambitious about what we can host and throw a lot of weight behind our efforts. Without this, we simply divide what we have amongst an ever-growing number of providers.
This benefits no-one.
We also know that to make it work, hotel operators need to be given a little more freedom on event weekends to extend and adapt our offer to cater for the incoming audience. Flexibility on opening times and licensing would allow us to cater more effectively for these visitors.
These are truly exciting and transformational times for Newcastle city centre and we are encouraged by recent music and sporting events that the market can grow.
Big events bring in business and publicise the city all over the world. This is a huge double whammy with economic benefits from the event itself, and the promotional benefits of free, third party advertising and endorsement which takes the message about what Newcastle has to offer to a wide, global audience.
Newcastle is a great city and people who visit fall in love with the place and its people, and are always keen to return. Having new hotels, events and a full programme of activities in the city gives people more reasons to return. We just need to up the ante.
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